1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reproducing apparatus, and more particularly to a method of classifying content files recorded on a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital cameras configured to record captured image data on a memory card have been known in the prior art. In addition, in recent years, disk video cameras have come onto the market, which record captured moving images and the like on an optical disk such as a DVD (digital versatile disc).
In such digital cameras or video cameras, when digital content, such as moving images, still images, and sound, are recorded on a recording medium, each content is handled as one file and is managed using a file system, such as UDF (Universal Disk Format) or FAT (File Allocation Table).
In a case where a content file recorded and managed in the above-described manner is reproduced, thumbnail images indicating representative images of recorded content files are displayed on a list so as to enable a user to select a desired content to be reproduced.
In addition, the recording capacity of recording media has dramatically increased in recent years, and with the advancement of information compression technologies such as MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group), a single recording medium allows a great number of content files to be recorded thereon.
Accordingly, it has become necessary to devise a method of easily searching for content desired to be reproduced from many files recorded on a recording medium.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-254746 discloses a method of searching for desired content from many recorded content. In this method, content data is previously recorded while being classified into groups depending on the recording date, recording location, etc.
However, if content files are automatically classified as in the method disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 10-254746, a content file may in some cases be classified in a group not intended by a user.
Therefore, in order to classify and manage content files into groups desired by a user, the user needs to perform special grouping of the content files while checking the contents of each content file. This is very troublesome for the user.
In addition, in a case where content files are handled using a file system as described above, the file system may have a hierarchy structure. In such a file system having a hierarchy structure, it is desirable to more effectively classify content files.